UPDATED: Former Kansas guard Aaron Miles joins FGCU coaching staff

Kansas was coming off consecutive Final Four appearances in 2002 and ’03 under beloved Jayhawks coach Roy Williams when a new staff – helmed by Bill Self and including assistant Joe Dooley – arrived professing changes on the horizon.

After some askance looks at first from players, the iconic program ultimately sustained its elite standing, including winning its third national championship in 2008.

Dooley was integral to that transition, said former Jayhawks point guard Aaron Miles, who had just completed his sophomore season when Williams left to take over at North Carolina.

“I just remember his passion on the court and how energetic he was,” said Miles, who has been hired by Dooley to join his coaching staff at FGCU. “You knew he knew what he was doing. And he was always somebody you could go to talk to. As a player you always appreciate that.”

Some 13 years later, Dooley is the one embracing Miles, giving the Kansas and Big 12 Conference career assists leader his first assistant coaching position after he spent last season on Self’s support staff at Kansas as an assistant director of student-athlete development.

Miles, 33, played professionally for 10 seasons prior to that, mostly overseas, after graduating in 2005.

“He’s got a bright future in coaching, and he’ll make a big difference in our players’ skill development,” Dooley, entering his fourth year at FGCU after leaving Kansas in 2013, said in a release. “Aaron is experienced (and) hard-working. He will be a tremendous mentor to our players.”

Miles – who with wife Mikki has four sons, Aaron Jr., 7; Adonis, 5; Asaiah, 4; and Avion, 2 – replaces former FGCU assistant coach Senque Carey, who left after one season to return to his West Coast roots as an assistant coach at Long Beach State.

Miles’ starting salary at FGCU is $72,500, roughly equal to those of fellow FGCU assistants Michael Fly and Tom Abatemarco. He begins work at FGCU Monday and hits the road recruiting next week.

“I’m not looking at this as a short stop,” said Miles, who played professionally in France, Spain, Greece and Russia, along with shorts stints in the NBA and D-League, before being sidelined by a hip injury.

“I told coach Dooley, ‘I want to learn and grow and get better.’ We can continue to build on the success of everything they have there. The campus is expanding and everything about it is growing.”

Ranked ninth in NCAA career assists with 954 and tied for the most NCAA tournament games played by a Kansas player with 16, Miles was impressed by FGCU’s culture and work ethic on a recent visit.

“I knew it would be great,” he said. “But obviously it exceeded my expectations to see how hard the guys were working and challenging each other to get better. Guys are holding each other accountable, calling each other out if someone wasn’t going hard. That’s a winning environment. It’s contagious for everybody. You have an opportunity to do great things.”

At Kansas years ago, players were initially skeptical before embracing their new coaches, Miles said.

“This isn’t how we always did things,” he said of the players’ reactions. “But it was the right way. As coach Self always said, ‘There’s more than one way to skin a cat.’ It rang true.”

Miles rejoined Self last season after a hip injury forced surgery and ultimately ended his career.

“It’s time for me to hang them up,” said Miles, who won Russian Cup titles in 2012 and ’13 and was the Russian Cup MVP in 2013. “I never got the confidence to get back out there.”

Miles plans to bring the same passion he once had as a player to the FGCU staff.

“FGCU just hit a home run,” Self said in a release. “He’s experienced beyond his years with his playing background and his ability to teach. I think Aaron has the chance to be one of the stars in our profession moving forward.”